Day #2 at Tales...

By pinklady on Sun, Jul 20, 2008 2:09 pm

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(Posted post-humously, after reading thru you'll understand why...)

Our first class of the day was titled "Juniperlooze: A Journey Deep into the heart of Mother's Ruin," hosted by Ryan Magarian of Aviation Gin, Simon Ford from Plymouth, Phillip Duff of Genever, and Desmond Payne from Beefeater. The three of us (Pink Lady, Mimi, and Em) started researching the topic – very heavily, I might add – the night before. Let’s just say it was a little touch and go for Pink Lady in the morning, and the last thing I wanted right when I got up was more gin. Mimi went foraging for coffee and some pastries, and after downing a few bites of a croissant and about a gallon of water, off we went to our second day of Cocktail School.

Class was packed to the gills. Mimi had a problem with her tickets, and by the time we arrived, we had to crawl through rows at the front of the room to make it to our seats. We were totally those people. Once seated, we learned so much. All manner of gins were sampled, from a Genever style (not widely available in the states but closest to the kind our forebroads would have sipped in the 19th century), to Old Tom (most popular pre-Prohibition, much sweeter than the prevailing modern styled London Dry Gin), to all manner of modern dry gins. There was also lengthy discussion about the as-yet unnamed emerging category casually referred to as “New Western gin”, which balances essential juniper with other botanicals, making for a complex and savory expression of the spirit. Think Aviation, Martin Millers, and Hendricks. We left excited about the future of gin, and about the free swag provided compliments of Plymouth, which included a portable bar.

Miraculously, we muscled through our own gin-iness and consumed the gin samples and the sample cocktails on offer during Juniperlooza. Croissant notwithstanding, this made for a pleasant buzz and a deep need for lunch, but not without stopping by the tasting rooms where two very different rums were one offer. First we checked out at the Cruzan tasting room where none other than Wayne Curtis was pouring samples and educating guests, then the Clement tasting room, where we made friends with some nice San Franciscans, including Neyah White from Nopa. Rum…yum. Then it was off to the Acme Oyster House for some more fried food because that seems to be all we ate to eat in New Orleans.

After lunch we headed back to the hotel for a quick catnap and to freshen up before the Cocktail Hour, where LUPEC Boston’s president and founder would be pouring a cocktail called the Ninth Ward on behalf of Boston’s Brother Cleve, who fell ill and had to cancel for the conference this year (our healthful thoughts are with you, Brother Cleve!) Cleve’s Ninth Ward is a variation on the classic Boston cocktail, the Ward 8, named after the famous NOLA neighborhood that was devastated during Katrina.

LUPEC also made our Small Screen Network debut during the cocktail hour with a brief spot on a webisode for The Liquid Muse. Rock on ladies!

Mimi, Em, and I met Barbara West for a Vieux Carre at the Carousel Bar before heading to Cochon for our 9:30 dinner reservation. Everyone at the conference was raving about this place, and a quick glance at the menu upon arrival explained why: fried boudin sausage, fried alligator, ham hock with lima bean hoppin’ john & mustard onion jus, smoked beef brisket with horseradish potato salad, and red fish left us mighty full. We also ordered a million sides, a salad, and dessert. The amount of food left over was frankly embarrassing, but we couldn’t resist.

Then it was off to Vaughn’s to check out the Kermit Ruffins band – minus Kermit Ruffins, plus our favorite sax and trombone players from Rebirth – along with a few other LUPEC gals and the boys from Eastern Standard. Boston showed up strong at Vaughn’s, and let’s just say we were never at a loss for beer. Leave it to a bunch of bartenders to keep the drinks flowing, and after an hour we’d drunk the bar entirely out of $2 Miller Hi Life. Guess that’s what happens when you order beer ten at a time. The Beija boys showed up during the second set, as did the Brandon from Diabolique, and our new best friend Jeff from New Hampshire, Liza from the Globe, and a ton of other Tales folks.

The band stopped playing at around 2:30, but the party continued. A group of us ended up back on Decatur in search of more music. We danced at a reggae club for a while, drank more Hi Life and bourbon, and then moved on in search of more fun. We stumbled upon some beignets at Café Du Monde, for which we now had room after hours of dancing.

Our final stop of the night was the Old Absinthe House, which was as packed as Eastern Standard on a game night in spite of the late hour. When they finally locked the doors at 5 a.m. we stumbled back to our hotel for a quick, totally illegal dip in the pool before heading back to the room to pack for our 11:10 a.m. flight. We’d be leaving NOLA as we arrived, with eight hours of sleep between the lot of us.

But the never-ending party was so, so worth it.